Document processing facilities often use high speed document processing machines such as sorters, to sort and direct mail items appropriately to one or more mail bins for distribution. Various types or stages of processing may occur during sorting of the mail items as they are transported at high speeds along a transport path of the sorter via a system of mechanized pulleys, levers and rollers. Such processes may include, but are not limited to imaging of each mail item at various moments of transport, interpretation of address components (e.g., recipient addresses, ZIP codes, barcodes) based on the image as marked upon the mail items for enabling association of each mail item with a sort scheme, printing upon the mail item, application of labels, opening or cutting of the mail item, etc. Generally, these processes are coordinated by one or more computers operating in connection with the sorter. In a multi-sorter environment, where a mailing is distributed for processing amongst multiple sorters, a server may act as a central administrator of sorter activity—i.e., facilitating data exchange, managing job scheduling and processing, coordinating sort schemes amongst sorter devices, distributing jobs to be run, etc.
The common goal of any sort operation is to arrange a plurality of disparate mail items into mail groups that conform to postal authority standards, thereby maximizing postal work sharing discounts. Consequently, when a customer (mailer) submits its mail for processing to a sort processing site that employs multiple sorters, it is common for the customer's mail items to be distributed amongst multiple sorters. Furthermore, the customer's mail may be combined with the mail of differing customers as a means for the sort processing site to increase its number of mail items that quality for postal authority work sharing discounts. Where there are several differing mail items belonging to differing customers, the mail items of each customer must indicate a postal authority assigned mailer identification as a means to enable tracking of the mail items. Generally, this mailer identification is encoded within a postal authority approved code, such as an Intelligent Mail Barcode, in combination with a unique number (sequence number) and service type identifier. The combination of the mailer identification value, the unique number and service type identifier is intended to ensure uniqueness of the mail item for a specified period of time. In a multiple document processing environment where a particular customer's mail items may be distributed across multiple sorters, means for assigning and maintaining unique numbers is critical given the recurrence of the customer's mailer identification. Lack of proper coordination, usage and communication of the values to be used for generating postal authority approved codes can result in improper assignment of said codes to mail pieces and corruption of the mail's integrity. Such coordination is even more important when one considers the varying data range requirements of the postal authority approved code with respect to a given mailer.
Therefore there exists a need for an improved system and method for assigning and maintaining unique identifiers to mail items and processing of the mail items in a multiple mail processing device environment to maximize postal work sharing discounts.